The Cult of Potential

Compliment your Soul - Dan Croll

I was called gifted before I understood what that meant.

At first, it felt good.
Teachers said it like a prophecy.
Adults said it was like an investment.

“You’re smart.”
“You’ll go far.”
“You can’t waste this.”

I didn’t realize that “gifted” wasn’t just praise.

It was pressure.

When people think you’re gifted, you don’t get to be confused.
You don’t get to struggle publicly.
You don’t get to be average for a while.

If you fail, it’s not just a bad grade.
It’s a disappointment.
It’s “What happened to you?”

And somewhere along the way, I stopped enjoying learning.

I started performing intelligence.

Before I found computers, I started slipping.

I failed classes I should have passed.
I barely made it out.

And the worst part?

I knew I could have done better.

That’s what made it heavy.

Not that I didn’t understand.

But I was tired.

Tired of being the one who “should.”
Tired of carrying expectations I didn’t choose.
Tired of feeling like my future was something everyone else had already mapped out.

Being called gifted is strange.

Your value stops living in who you are.
It starts living in who you’re supposed to become.

I felt like I wasn’t maximizing my potential, I was betraying something.

My teachers.
My parents.
My younger self.
God.
The idea of who I was “meant” to be.

So when I started underperforming, it wasn’t rebellion.

It was exhaustion.

It was my mind quietly saying,
“I don’t want to be a prophecy anymore.”

Then I found computers.

And for the first time, effort didn’t feel like an obligation.

It felt like curiosity.

I wasn’t trying to live up to a ceiling.
I was trying to understand something.

I wasn’t chasing approval.
I was chasing problems.

And that changed everything.

I still feel the cult sometimes.

That voice that says,
“You could be doing more.”
“You should be further.”
“Don’t waste it.”

But now I’m learning something different.

My potential is not a debt.

It’s a choice.

And I don’t have to maximize every gift.

I just have to choose where to invest it.